Chapter 17: Chapter 17 Hunting

There truly is a universal truth, everyone loves baby animals. Victor got passed around throughout dinner time, best thing was him cuddling up with the girls and giving the guys the cold shoulder. Even only six weeks old he knows what he likes.

Halfway through Brandon started talking to me about the rat meat. We were running out and patches, his cat, wants us to get more. So after discussing it we agreed to head out tomorrow morning to have a small hunting trip. Last time they did the chasing but now we can take a bit of an offensive stance. After dinner was done I helped out with the dishes and played with Frost and Victor for a bit. The sisters who I learned were called Shara and Clare, Shara was the younger one. They came over to thank me for killing that scum, I told them it wasn't any trouble. They seemed to be fitting in just fine.

I went to sleep around ten with the twins cuddled up on my arms and Frost on her personal spot, Victor was at the foot of the bed snuggled in trying to digest all the treats he was given. Just like that another peaceful night passed in a chaotic world, I hope that this won't change. No, I will protect this small peace no matter the cost. Kissing the girls on the forehead I started to drift off.

I wake up in the middle of the night to a burning sensation in my body, the girls are startled awake by my trembling and temperature rising from my body. Sweat started to pour off my skin in sheets, I yell that I'm advancing a tier and they grab the animals while running out of the room with worried faces. My circulatory system must be going through a mutation because it feels like my veins are trying to pump magma throughout my body. I can see my skin turning from the shiny white to a dark red. I couldn't hold it on anymore and start giving out a low roar from the pain. I lasted an hour of painful transformation while watching my body sweat blood, destroy and rebuild my veins, and finally starting to change my heart before passing out.

I woke to the twins looking down at me, I tried to sit up but my whole body felt stiff and sore. After a few minutes I could finally move and I notice my skin was covered in a dark layer of dried blood, cracking and peeling as I move. The girls started to help me peel all the dried blood off my body, Jessica grabbed a bucket of water and some rags to get off the tougher layers. It felt like I was peeling a body sized scab off, every chunk that came off was accompanied by pain. Finally by noon we were done.

Standing up I felt a little better, but hungry. Just like last time I went through a mutation, my body used up so much energy now it wanted it back. With a growl from my stomach Jasmine went to go grab me some food. I took the time to check out what happened.

Name: Hunter Nespolon

Age: 17

Species: Human

Bloodline: Frozen Serpent

Current nanobots:

Tier 0: 5080 (-1000)

Idle: 80

Tier 0 skeletal: 1080

Idle: 1080

Tier 1: 1250 (-100)

Idle : 750

Tier 1 Brain: 500 (+500)

Idle: 400

Companion nanobots: 200 (+100)

Current energy: 77030

Current energy absorption: 5000/hour

Circulatory system: tier 1 00.00% (+49.97%)

[Mutation detected: purification]

Digestive system: tier 42.21%

Endocrine system: tier 1 00.00%

Integumentary system: tier 1 00.00%

[Mutation detected: poison]

Immune system: tier 0 35.35%

Muscular system: tier 0 42.33%

Nervous system: tier 0 31.08%

Renal system: tier 0 32.76%

Reproductive system: tier 0 30.03%

Respiratory system: tier 0 36.57%

Skeletal system: tier 1 00.00%

[Mutation detected: purification]

Note: average human is tier 0 15%

Current time: 12:00 PM

System Notice: Host has experienced a double mutation causing his bloodline to go through a round of purification. Host's blood now contains a more pure form of Frozen Serpent bloodline, this has enhanced your poison and allows the host to store more energy within his blood and bones. New maximum limit before random mutations is estimated to be around 100,000 energy.

System warning: Host is nearing maximum limit of energy before random mutations, please be advised.

Wow, no wonder it hurt so much my bloodline went through a purification on top of a double mutation, causing my blood and bone marrow to go through a round of changes. For now I need to get rid of some energy, I'll upgrade my immune system with the 500 tier 1 defaults using up the per hour supply. Next I'll make another 200 tier 1 defaults start producing more, that will cost me 5000 energy an hour. I'll set it to stop after ten hours so I still have some left over.

Now that that's taken care of I see Jasmine coming back with food. I eat for half an hour before Brandon comes into my room.

"You still up to hunt?"

I can see a look of concern all over his face, I do a few stretches and honestly I feel pretty good right now. The exercise will probably help to so I nod towards him.

"I'm all good let's head out, we wanna be back before dark."

I grab my gear and Frost moves to my shoulders, she seems even more attached to me since the purification. I wonder if its it's because we share the same bloodline. Either way we head out on foot, Brandon is bringing Patches along. She has grown quite big since the last time I'd seen her, before she was about average size for a house cat maybe a little fatter. Now however she looked like a panther with white and black sleek fur, about a meter and a half long and about half a meter wide. She was always a puffball but now you could see the lean muscles under her skin. No wonder we need to get more food, especially if Max's cat Pauly is the same size.

We make it downtown after a ten minute jog before we started to slow down, we are at the border of the rat's estimated territory. Brandon communicates with Patches through the messaging system, she starts to take the lead as we start our hunt. Brandon is loaded with a M249 light machine gun as his main but also has an assault rifle for quick use. He's carrying a ton of ammo and extra barrels, even with all that weight he still looks like he's out for a picnic not bothered at all. Patches crouched down in front of a building, looking at Brandon with a nod.

"How are we doing this?"

"Follow me little brother, we can bond for a while."

Puzzled by his words I follow him as he moves across the street from the apartment building. He looks around and grabs a garbage can, flipping it over and using it as a table he sets up his light machine gun. Loads the ammo line, and sets up the extras. This time I brought a assault rifle on top of my pistol and melee weapons. I double check my ammo and turn the safety off.

"Ok little brother how do you get ants out of an anthill?"

Thinking for a minute about his random question I answered.

"You flush them out with water or smoke."

"Exactly."

He reaches into his backpack and takes out two grenades, throwing one at the roof of the three story tall building, the second one went through a window on the second floor. Two large explosions sounded out as flames started to engulf the building, sounds of glass shattering everywhere. Howls and squeals of pain and agony quickly started to ring out, the air filled with the stench of burnt hair and something else.

"What you smell is napalm, it makes sure that what's supposed to burn does it right."

The sound of scratching of claws and a faint vibration from the ground follows his explanation. A wave of rats start to exit the building, just as they reach the door Brandon starts firing. Almost as if the the tide had reached a mountain side the rat wave ran into Brandon's bullets. The 45mm rounds burst some into instant mincemeat, as long as they were hit they either died or appeared at death's door. Each bullet went through at least six rats, some even farther. After five minutes of firing the wave settled down, Brandon's barrel was red giving off steam. He quickly swapped the barrels and reloaded another ammo line. Nothing was coming out anymore.

"Go check but be careful. I'll cover you."

I slowly walked towards the burning building, the front was riddled with bullet holes and covered in rat carnage. As I reached the destroyed door three large figures flew out the door, I jumped to the side but I felt something slash my back. Brandon starts to fire again but the figures were to fast. He stops and grabs the large hammer strapped to his back, looking like a beast himself he gave out a challenging roar as he charged. I follow through with my roll but stumbled from shock at my gentle brother's transformation.

He swings toward one of the figures that looked to be giant rats as big as the one killed before, the rat was hit in midair and sent flying into a side of the building. It spewed out a stream of blood before collapsing with it's side indented from the blow. The other two became cautious, one approaching Brandon circling around to his side. The second starts to approach me snapping its maul. I leave my assault rifle on the ground, and reach for my machete slowly. As I grab the handle it leaps at me, with no time I rolled to the side and drew my blade. The rat doesn't pause as it leaps at my throat, I barely block it with the flat of my blade but it knocks me onto my back. As the rats serrated teeth inched closer a white shadow flashed past me, Frost launched herself at the rat biting it's neck and coils around it's throat. The rat panics almost as if remembering the fear of it's natural predator, as soon as it realised Frost couldn't actually kill it instantly it refocused on me in panic. It tried to finish me off but my blade was freed and I was already stabbing towards its head. It had eyes full of panic as it died without realizing where the dangerous creature wrapped around its neck came from.

I look over to see Brandon's situation, only he wasn't doing anything. The rat had two broken legs more then likely from Brandon but he didn't finish it off, instead Patches was playing with it. Making sure it didn't escape as she swatted at it every now and then. When Brandon saw I was all done he whistled and Patches leaped onto the terrified rat's back, ripping a chunk out of it's throat while she pinned it down. Brandon went over and scratched her head causing the dangerous feline to start to purr.

With that we gathered our three prizes and started to make our way home. It was peaceful on the way back, in reality it only took us three hours to find a rat den thanks to Patches, kill almost everything and get back home. I made sure to give Frost an extra treat because of her save.

The twins were upset about my back but it wasn't a deep scratch, they still insisted on bandaging it up. All things considered it was a good day, helped the twins with some maintenance work until dinner, played with Frost and Victor in the pretense of training them, than me and the girls had a wild battle at night. A good day but I couldn't sleep yet, my immune system will tier up around one am so I need to be prepared for another mutation so I don't risk the twins safety. They slept on the bed while I sat on the floor, Frost still insisted on sleeping on my lap no matter what. Finally one came and all that happened was a little dizziness. I checked my stats.

Name: Hunter Nespolon

Age: 17

Species: Human

Bloodline: Frozen Serpent

Current nanobots:

Tier 0: 5080

Idle: 80

Tier 0 skeletal: 1080

Idle: 1080

Tier 1: 1250

Idle : 750

Tier 1 Brain: 1000 (+500)

Idle: 800

Companion nanobots: 200

Current energy: 27030

Current energy absorption: 5000/hour

Circulatory system: tier 1 00.00%

[Mutation detected: purification]

Digestive system: tier 42.21%

Endocrine system: tier 1 00.00%

Integumentary system: tier 1 00.00%

[Mutation detected: poison]

Immune system: tier 1 00.00% (+64.65%)

Muscular system: tier 0 42.33%

Nervous system: tier 0 31.08%

Renal system: tier 0 32.76%

Reproductive system: tier 0 30.03%

Respiratory system: tier 0 36.57%

Skeletal system: tier 1 00.00%

[Mutation detected: purification]

Note: average human is tier 0 15%

Current time: 1:00 AM

My excess energy problem is gone and I reached 1000 brain nanites, I can start upgrading my nervous system now. With the 1000 brain nanites I'll use up my energy per hour and upgrade the nervous system around eight am. Huh only five more after that tell I'm a fully tier 1 human, I wonder how much I'll truly change. I already feel so much fast, stronger, and built to last. Can we truly be called humans anymore soon. Never mind a problem for another day, for now how to squeeze between the twins, he he he.

Author's Thoughts

Wolfhuntre

:O when did Brandon become a badass? Well he has his ways I guess

Anyways Little reward for me good mood hope you all keep supporting me because I appreciate it so much. Truly makes my day to watch the reader base grow.

Anyways here's my discord

https://discord.gg/9ZDx4Y6

if anyone wants to chat or ask something feel free. I am also thinking of names for pack leaders and special monsters for the future any suggestions?